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"The Eggbaby" is the thirty-fourth episode of Batman Beyond. In order to pass his Family Studies class, Terry must take care of a computerized Eggbaby. Dropping the Eggbaby means failure and he soon finds that there is no one else to take care of it. Unfortunately, this means taking the Eggbaby with him on missions as Batman, as he deals with a family of rogues.

Plot[]

A truck drives up to a large mansion just outside of Gotham. A trio of people gets out: two men (Carl and Slim) and a middle-aged woman. The three break into the house and convince the butler to show them where the safe is. After finding the safe, the group blows it open and the woman (the mother of the two younger men) sorts through the valuables and steals a ruby ring. All other items are shunned.

The next day, Bruce calls up Terry and tells him about the robbery. Apparently, Ma Mayhem has been stealing ruby jewelry but for unknown reasons. However, before Terry can deal with it, he has to go to his Family Studies class, which he's failing.

Terry's baby

Terry gets his assigned baby.

In class, Miss Pinto assigns her students to take care of computerized Eggbabies. They are programmed to act and respond as real babies do, recording how well their "parents" are taking care of them and if they're dropped, it's an automatic fail. The project will make up half of their final grade, which the teacher pointedly notes, is crucial for Terry in particular. The class is randomly divided into mock couples. Dana is somewhat disappointed that she doesn't get Terry as her partner. Unfortunately for Terry, he's paired with Blade who's massively uninterested in the assignment; she has it for less than a minute then absentmindedly knocks the Eggbaby off her desk while filing her nails, and Terry is forced to catch it. In fact, that night while Terry is waiting for the Batmobile to pick him up from home to go off on his mission as Batman, Blade drops by, dumps the Eggbaby with him and leaves to go on a date with Jurgan.

Unable to get rid of the Eggbaby, Terry takes it with him on his mission and spies Ma Mayhem and her family looking to steal ruby earrings. Unfortunately, the Eggbaby starts crying and alerts the thieves to his presence. One of the men, Carl is sent to take care of Batman and during the ensuing fight the Eggbaby is almost dropped. When Batman tries to save it, he's almost killed but manages to escape. But because of their advance warning, the gang escapes.

Day comes and Terry takes care of his Eggbaby along with a few of his classmates. However, when Terry tries to give Blade the Eggbaby, she refuses to take it. That being the case, Terry still has to keep it when he goes to the Batcave. Bruce is annoyed about the Eggbaby but Terry's mother refused to take it because she said she's too young to be a grandma, and Matt abused it by shooting it with rubber bands. Bruce shuts down any possibility of taking care of the Eggbaby himself and only Ace is willing to spend time with it, making it laugh with friendly licks. Terry is forced to take it on another mission, but seeing as this was a strong possibility, he had given it a double feeding, changed its diaper and kept it awake the entire afternoon; he figures it will sleep for hours.

Batman sleeping baby

Batman leaves the baby to sleep.

After reaching the next location, the Museum of Fashion, Batman leaves the Eggbaby on an air conditioning unit and attacks the group. Unfortunately, they are ready for him and fight back. Batman manages to hold up his own against the group but in the end they manage to escape once again. However, things are even worse for Batman when he sees that the air conditioning unit was really the gang's truck in holographic disguise. They take off in it taking the Eggbaby along.

Desperate not to fail Family Studies, Batman heads out to find the Eggbaby but can find no trace. However, Bruce realizes that the Eggbaby can be tracked by its digital cry, which can be scanned for by the Batmobile.

Back at her hideout, Ma Mayhem celebrates her victory in getting the entire set of ruby jewelry, which was the first thing she and her husband stole. While she deals with her upset children, the Eggbaby starts to cry again. Batman is alerted to the Eggbaby's location and heads out to the hideout. He arrives just in time to watch Carl reluctantly drop the Eggbaby from a high window. Batman saves the Eggbaby, which makes it happy, and is subsequently attacked by the group. Ma Mayhem decides to opt for a speedy get away. Slipping the Eggbaby inside his backpack, Batman quickly gives chase while the Eggbaby enjoys the ride.

Ma caught

Ma Mayhem caught.

After a brief, yet intense time of being dragged by the family's truck, Batman manages to stop them and forces them to land on a building. After setting up a smokescreen Batman manages to get Slim to attack Carl, thereby knocking him out, then knocks out Slim himself. All that's left is Ma Mayhem and she proves to be a much stronger opponent as she pummels him with her purse. However, he manages to cut the straps on her bag - which contains her loot - causing it to fall off the roof of the building. Ma Mayhem desperately jumps after the bag and manages to catch it as Batman catches her with a cable, but the upside-down bag opens and drops all of its contents to the street.

With his mission complete, Terry returns to his Family Studies class and is shocked and cheerful to receive the top grade. As Miss Pinto explains, the other couples performed adequately at feeding and nurturing their babies, but Terry's was the only one whose mind was fully stimulated—i.e., his baby had the most fun. She calls Terry "ideal father material." When Dana and several other girls look at him happily, Terry becomes a little embarrassed.

Continuity[]

Background information[]

Home video releases[]

Production notes[]

Production inconsistencies[]

  • Despite Miss Pinto dividing the class into teams of two, several couples, including Nelson and Max and Jared and Chelsea, have received two eggbabies.
  • When Batman throws a Batarang to disarm Slim, it changes into a disc that he fires from his forearms.
  • When Batman ejects out of the Batmobile to regain his eggbaby, he is wearing his backpack. In the next shot, it's missing, but it reappears in the following shot.
  • When Ma Mayham catches her purse, the strap appears to be intact, despite previously being cut by Batman.

Trivia[]

  • This episode won an Emmy Award.
  • From this episode on, the title screen and opening billing are displayed in OCR-A font.
  • This was the first episode James Tucker directed, after Curt Geda was engaged working on Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.
  • Bruce Timm said in the commentary that this was the only episode he worked on that he allowed his daughter to watch.
  • Bruce's comment about making slippers from rubies is a reference to the 1939 movie version of The Wizard of Oz, which had Dorothy, the protagonist, wearing ruby slippers.
  • This episode marks the final speaking appearance of Blade.

Cast[]

Actor Role
Will Friedle Terry McGinnis / Batman
Kevin Conroy Bruce Wayne
Lauren Tom Dana Tan
Cree Summer Max Gibson
Seth Green Nelson Nash
Melissa Disney Bobbi "Blade" Sommer
Ruth Zalduondo Miss Pinto
Kathleen Freeman Ma Mayhem
Andy Dick Slim
Mark Rolston Carl
Max Brooks Howard Groote
Michael Ensign Butler

Uncredited appearances[]

Quotes[]

Terry: What's she gonna to do with them all?
Bruce: Don't know, but I have a feeling she's not making slippers.
Terry: Slippers, from rubies?
Bruce: Mmm. Before your time.

Terry: It's Family Studies and I'm failing. (hangs up)
Bruce: (to Ace) How does someone fail Family Studies?

(Eggbaby cries)
Bruce: What's going on there? Is that a baby?
Terry: Um.
Bruce: You brought a baby with you?
Terry: It's not what you think, really.
Bruce: Terry, is there something you need to tell me?

Garbage Man #1: Was that Batman? Dumpster diving?
Garbage Man #2: A fella's gotta eat.

Nelson: Something's wrong. He's not eating! Why isn't he eating?
Terry: (looking over) Maybe because you're trying to feed him through his nose.

Max: Here's the bio and civics.
Nelson: Thanks, hon. How 'bout the math?
Max: It's coming, stop nagging.
Terry: I get it. You're doing his homework so you don't have to take care of the baby.
Max: We opted for the traditional marriage: one breadwinner, one homemaker.
Nelson: Beats algebra.

Blade: And how's our little A+ doing?
Terry: He's sleeping. You'll hardly know when he's around.
Blade: Forget it! Jurgen has this new vid I wanna check out. (leaves)
Terry: (annoyed) I want a divorce!

Bruce: Do you have to keep lugging that thing around with you?
Terry: I need the grade.
Bruce: Even real parents with real children find ways to get away for a night.
Terry: I tried leaving it with my mom, but she said she was too young to be a grandmother.
Bruce: What about your brother?
Terry: I tried that too, and I caught him shooting rubber bands at it. Hey, you know maybe you could...
(Bruce turns and gives Terry a hard stare.)
Terry: Nevermind.

Terry: No sign of him anywhere. I've lost him.
Bruce: "Him"? That's a doll you're talking about, not a life.
Terry: It's my life if it's lost. I'll have to take Family Studies again. Have you ever taken Family Studies?!

Terry: Poor kid's gonna cry until he shuts down.
Bruce: Its cries are computer generated, aren't they?
Terry: Yeah, so?
Bruce: That would mean the cries would have certain quantifiable digital properties.
Terry: Then I can set the Batmobile to scan for it, can't I?
Bruce: Uh-huh. Unless they've already made an omlette out of him.
Terry: Oh, hey!

Ma Mayhem: This is getting old, Batman.
Batman: Look who's talking.

Carl: But Ma, dad's not dead. He just ran off with... (she hits him) Augh!
Ma Mayhem: Don't ever talk that way about your father!

Ma Mayhem: Here, give it to Mama! it kind of reminds me of when you two were little...
(The Eggbaby continues to cry.)
Ma Mayhem: Get rid of it!

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